Smartphone penetration up to 44 percent, and other fun facts

As smartphones grow in number and importance, finding good data to back up marketers' understanding of user behaviour is paramount. Enter Google to the rescue with a new project on mobile consumer behaviour: thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet.

Our Mobile Planet provides access to data for a total of 40 countries and is a treasure trove of insights for marketers. Google commissioned Ipsos MediaCT to conduct the research and is making it available in conjunction with the Mobile Marketing
Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

You can dig into the raw data, visualise information in graph form using the chart builder, or see country-level executive summary reports.

New Zealand isn't quite on par with Australia, UK,
Sweden, Norway, Saudi Arabia or the UAE when it comes to smartphone usage (they all have more than 50 percent of their
population now on smartphones) but we have pushed past the 40 percent mark: we're up to 44 percent (Android penetration is at 41 percent, iOS 32 percent). And 59 percent of smartphone owners access the web on a daily basis.

Interestingly, consumers in emerging markets have some of the highest levels of mobile engagement In China, for example, 59 percent of smartphone owners have made a purchase on their device (the highest number in the study). In contrast, only 29 percent of New Zealanders can say the same. And while nearly three-quarters of users in Saudi Arabia and Argentina are searching on their mobile device daily, only 41 percent of Kiwis are doing so that often.

Looking for local information is a near universal smartphone behaviour. Three-quarters of us don't leave home without our devices, and 28 percent of Kiwis say they look for local information on their smartphone weekly. As a result, half of those people either called or visited a business/service, visited their website or looked them up on a map.

Advertisers may like to know nearly half of us mobile users have noticed an ad while using an app or on a website. That falls to 20 percent for watching a video, however, and even lower on a retail or video website.

Usability seems to be faring well; the majority of users are content with browing sites on smartphones. Those who say they are satisfied or indifferent to the experience make up more than half. Only 14 percent were unsatisfied.

Note that while 60 percent expect websites to be as easy to use on mobile as on a computer, nearly half follow up on a computer anyway.